The Stream's Winter
by ela-chan
Summary: [COMPLETE] When she comes, everyone at Kaibara High welcomes her as the intruiging new student with the incredibly short temper, and as one of the most prized young Martial Artists in the world. Everyone, that is, except for Kyo Sohma. [ KyoxOC Birthday
1. unum

**Disclaimer:** _Fruits Basket and all Fruits Basket characters and things like that belong to Natsuki Takaya and Hana to Yume comics. Everything else you don't recognize, like Adriana Aziz and the plot,_ (There's a plot? -.-) _probably belong to me._

**Ela**** Squawk:** _This story's plot isn't a complicated one. It's simple, with a happy ending. I wrote this so that Adriana could have her Kyo. No more, no less. Don't expect anything too complicated._

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_Dedications: _

For **Adriana** on her 14th Birthday (Yes, that is she who is the heroine of the story). May you have a fantasmical day and many happy returns!

For **Katie**: Rest in Peace.

For **Zoya**: Thank you.

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**The Stream's Winter**  
By Ela-chan

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**Chapter One**

_A __New World__ and the Student Council President_

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Another day. Another sun.

Kaibara High was bustling eagerly with rumours unproved and chatter assaulted every ear within a one mile radius. The Junior and Senior girls especially were rather rambunctious in their insatiable quests to seek out the other for more information concerning the new student reputed to be one of the World's top martial artists. It was a busy, irksome day for some, and even the bright weather could not sift through the complications.

As the students quarrelled and jostled about the school like angry bees at work, Adriana gazed forlornly out of the School Office window, lost in thought, and feeling utterly out-of-place.

The reason of her melancholia was simple, and that was: she had been transferred from her little comfortable place in the heart of Sydney, all the way to _bloody __Japan_ As thoughts of the fact that she will never return to her homeland blinked like a broken filmstrip behind her dark eyes, Adriana's heart sparked with igniting flames, coating her appearance with a dangerous, almost silently deadly aura.

A flash of her father's stoic face and voice streaked swiftly across her mind like a wasp, and a terrible rage began to bubble in the well of her soul. Her hair seemed to crackle with an electric fury, and she ground her teeth in an attempt to keep her scream at bay. The girl's hands balled themselves into twin fists tightly, claw-like, silver-sprayed nails almost piercing through her tender skin, almost drawing blood.

Sputtered questions spurted into her mind like the scalding water inside of an angry kettle, screeched by an inhuman voice she almost did not recognise to be her own.

Had she been asked of this? Had her consent been sought out for the thumbs up to go ahead with it all? Had she been _warned_ of this well before?

No.

Her blasted father had told her of the transfer only the day before it was to occur, and, as an understatement, Adriana had not taken the news lightly.

Her eyes fluttered to a close as events of the previous day played like a sepia film in her mind.

**_Japan_******_ Are you **crazy?!**' Adriana hollered at her father, hair practically crackling like luminous fireworks. Her mother loomed in the corner of room, almost like an executioner, watching the incident with a kind of bemusement Adriana thought to be unfair. Her two younger siblings were sprawled nonchalantly on the many sofas, uncaring, bored and idle. _

_'The change will be good for you. Besides, opportunities for your Martial Arts will be extensive there compared to here. I can't waste a chance like this,' her father countered with grace, unfazed by his daughter's fury. He sat calmly in his recliner, feet propped up, raking sharp eyes over the newspaper headlines as he did everyday. Through his thin, half-moon glasses, he looked over at his daughter sternly, a deep frown catching his thin lips._

_'My decision is final, Adriana. You leave tomorrow.'_

_Adriana ogled at him, eyes abnormally protuberant and mouth opening and closing, almost spouting incoherence. Her mind whirled dizzily of angry and confused thought, almost like a blizzard of heat, snow and sleet, and the only thing she thought that made half sense was a bellowed:_

_'But – I can't **speak** bloody Japanese!' _

_Mr Aziz cocked an eyebrow, and sighed tiredly, almost willing his exhaustion to be banished from his body. He calmly folded his newspaper in primp folds before looking at her, and this time **really**_ _looked at her. His lips were set in a grim line, and Adriana felt a nervous jolt somewhere in her middle, like the anxiety before an axe fell and took a life. _

Honestly,_ she thought fleetingly, _even now father still affects me, still scares the living daylights out of me!

_'The school I've enrolled you in has the main language spoken as English. Not,' he said with emphasis, tilting his head slightly toward her, '"bloody Japanese." Now, go upstairs and begin packing. You have an early flight; and I know how you are in the morning, banging off walls and trying to eat your sister's fingers with an excuse that you thought she was sushi.'_

_He allowed himself a watery chuckle, and went back to his newspaper, looking as though their one-sided conversation had not occurred. Adriana stayed rooted to the spot, openly gaping and feeling positively mutinous. She felt as though the happenings and decisions flashing at present were becoming too much for her to absorb, as though she had seen a tsunami, and had stayed on the shore, glaring at it, yet doing nothing to prevent the inevitable._

_Japan__? Her? **Tomorrow?** _

_She started suddenly as several pieces in her mind slotted into place, like an automated chess piece built to bask in glory of victory. Acrid emotions flitted across every defined sense she possessed, etching her intentions clear as crystal, sharper than any diamond corner on Earth. Her hands curled into tight fists, and she almost bared her teeth. Blind rage consumed her._

_'What about my friends?!__ Did you think about **them?!**' _

_Her father turned the page, and did not look up._

_'You'll make new ones.' _

_Adriana's head whipped around to gawk at her mother, hoping for some sort of moral support. Mrs Aziz had not spoken since she was called into the room for a 'very important talk', and when her eldest daughter looked at her pleadingly, she did not attempt to voice any sort of consolation. She merely shrugged, and raised her own hands palm up in defeat. Pity swirled in her eyes, and Adriana glared at her the same way she glowered at her father, looking, and feeling betrayed. It took her a moment to regain control over herself, and when she did, all coherent speech was stolen from her. _

_'You **can't** – this is – **bloody **_**_Japan_******_' she managed to sputter, hands flailing wildly. Without another word, she turned on her heel, and fled upstairs, wet hair flying behind her. Along her way, Adriana violently hurled an ill-aimed, anger-masked punch at the stair-well wall, denting it considerably. _

_Then silence masked the household._

Adriana opened her eyes. Anger, sadness and a torn sense of confusion whirled in them, all forming a tangled web of interloped emotions, all perfect in their own paths. Her lashes were coated with the crystalline dew of unshed tears, and her eyes were glassy from constricting her flow of emotions.

And so, here she was now, at Kaibara High, in bloody _Japan_waiting for whomever the Office Lady had told her to wait for. The room she was in was plain enough, desks laden with coffee-stained documents, cabinets brimming with files upon files of student portfolios, walls plastered with art-work by the younger children, and various other bits and ends Adriana was too irked to bother with.

She sighed, as though wishing to rid her body of anymore negative thought.

It had been an entire half an hour since the Lady had left her there with a stern word, all by herself, in her utterly too short school skirt, and a rather queer looking school bag. Her thoughts were beginning to take on aimless paths, and so she had resorted to poking the sleeping obese cat on the desk before her. As she poked it, she yawned, and didn't bother covering her mouth.

Then the click of the door sounded, and in came a young man clad in a crisp black suit.

'Sorry about the wait, Miss Aziz,' he greeted gruffly, striding behind his desk as though he were a regal Ruler of the most important country in the world, looking as though this was just another tedious conference he was forced to attend. He placed himself almost regally on the chair, shuffled papers and tidied his desk before looking at her, a translucent eye twitching from exhaustion. Adriana felt suddenly annoyed, and the slight frown curving on her lips indicated her irksome feelings.

'You didn't make me wait,' replied Adriana sweetly, casting an innocent smile upon the man like the warm rays of a morning sun. Then a split moment later, her smile dropped like the wooden box stepped on by a hanged man, a frosty expression icing over her features. 'It was more like eternal condemnation.' She spat those words as if they burned her, and she let her eyes glare unabashedly at the older man.

He blinked, seeming completely taken aback by her sudden alteration in persona. With a firm, albeit nervous clearing of his throat, he pulled open a drawer, sifted through the contents while Adriana watched him, and then withdrew a thick wad of foreign papers. He slammed it onto the desk, went through them, and slivered out six sheets.

'These will be the information sheets you will require during your first weeks here,' he said formally, all anxiety banished. He took each paper and slapped a loopy, almost effeminate signature at the bottom. 'As your Father had mentioned, you're rather of a Master strength concerning your skills in the Martial Arts, and so, you will be taking your Advanced Martial Arts classes during your stay here. Our school, however, only has a class for male students. Therefore, with your Father's consent, we placed you there, having no choice.'

He leaned back into his chair, and preceded to steeple his fingers.

'We have the Student Council President outside waiting for you. He will be your guide around the school for the first week, or longer if need be. He will have all the answers to your questions. But if not, feel free to come to my Office whenever you wish.' He paused, pondering. 'Except during class time, Wednesdays and Fridays.' He nodded curtly. 'That will be all. Good day, Miss Aziz.'

Adriana blinked blankly, and, for a moment, she looked faintly dazed, as though she had been spun a million rotations. As the information seeped into her brain like caramel over wafers, the glare that would surely become her trademark within and out of school settled over her face, and she snatched the papers from the desk without a trace of lady-like mannerism. With a last intense glower at the man, she swung her bag over her shoulder, and consciously tugged down at her skirt. She stalked across the room, swung open the door, and stormed outside, not bothering to throw a _'goodbye'_ or _'thank you'_ over her shoulder.

'Miss Aziz?'

'**_What?!_**'

Adriana whirled around in a flurry of lustrous brown tresses, her temper just dancing away from control. She was momentarily blinded by a cluster of furious black dots dancing about her eyes, and she had to close them and take several deep breaths to return to a half-decent calm state. Her hands had clenched into fists again, and her first instinct was to knock whoever this person was into the next three mathematics blocks.

'What?' she repeated more calmly, letting her eyes flutter open, lashes like shutters being brought up to reveal the world. Who she saw made her eyes glitter and widen, and she was sure her heart flipped open and exposed itself.

'Good morning, Miss Aziz,' the young man intoned kindly, an ethereal smile curling his full mouth. 'Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Yuki Sohma, the current Student Council President. I do believe we're in the same year. It's quite a pleasure to meet one of the most esteemed young Martial Artists in the world.'

He held out a slender hand, violet eyes glittering with mystery. Adriana felt her own limb twitch, but it did not move; voluntarily or not, she could not tell. She was far too struck by his aura, his almost effeminate _beauty_. He had to be the most beautiful person she had seen; she could swear it.

Yuki, seeing that Adriana was not moving her own hand to shake his, lowered it, coughed uncomfortably and offered a kind smile, seeming to understand the girl's hesitant behaviour toward him.

At the sight of another smile, Adriana felt her stomach jolt and roll over, like a jittery wet dog electrocuted. Words of thanks and greeting bubbled in her throat, but before she could string them together, speech was literally stolen from her, rendering her voiceless.

'Shall we?' Yuki offered, bowing slightly. Strands of his lavender hair tumbled like threads of the finest silk, and Adriana felt almost enchanted. She nodded, albeit jerkily, and willed her legs to move. Beads of nervous sweat trailed slowly down her temple, and she brushed them away, offering a weak smile to Yuki.

_First day_, she thought feebly, _already making a fool out of myself. _

**_Bloody _****_Japan_******

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**Read? Review, then! =)**


	2. duae

**Disclaimer:** _Fruits Basket and all Fruits Basket characters and things like that belong to Natsuki Takaya and Hana to Yume comics. Everything else you don't recognize, like Adriana Aziz and the plot, (_There's a plot? -.-) _probably belongs to me._

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**The Stream's Winter**  
By Ela-chan

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**Chapter Two**

_Handling Things and People_

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The walk to the Cafeteria was unusually quiet. Only the sound of their muffled footfalls could be heard as they bounced off the walls and into Adriana's ears, amplifying them to an extreme volume she so sorely desired to smash in. As she inhaled, her breaths seemed to echo around her, and she cast a furtive glance at Yuki, half-hoping her abnormal breathing pattern had not frightened him away.

She cleared her throat, as though wanting to say something truly intelligent, but the words became caught and jumbled on her tongue, and she was forced to emit a rather peculiar noise, like an ostrich caught choosing between an apple and a kiwi. Yuki looked side-long at her, mildly curious. Adriana looked back, and plastered a bright smile on her face, stretching her full lips. Yuki raised an eyebrow, and allowed a small smile in return.

They faced frontal again, one amused and the other relieved at having not made a fool out of herself for the second time that day. Honestly, if the current slight awkwardness was going to be anything like the rest of her days here at Kaibara High, Adriana was not going to be pleased at all. She was about to demand half a dozen answers from Yuki when her companion veered a sudden left, and walked down an entirely new corridor, one that was wafting of heavenly aromas. Adriana decided she liked the change of scenery.

The corridor was long and wide, with its ceiling high, and from it hung several twirling fans. The generated air lifted strands of Adriana's hair, tickling her chin, and withdrawing from her a smile. Her nose suddenly twitched; the scents were becoming a little overwhelming, a passing musing told her.

'I think lunch isn't over yet,' said Yuki lightly, pausing before the Cafeteria double doors. He threw Adriana an encouraging smile, before he unlatched the handle of one, and pushed it open; and with that, uncurtained a scene that both irked and aroused happiness within Adriana. She stepped in, then stilled, feeling as though she had entered an entirely foreign world, and all eyes suddenly speared through her and only her.

Boys – or rather,_ young men_ – were yelling and laughing, banging on tables with silvery, winking coins and their well-sized fists. Girls – or rather, _young women_ – were whispering excitedly with one another, giggling and squealing over gossip. As her heavily-lashed eyes raked over the atrium with growing mingled curiosity and dread, Adriana was sure a large group of girls in the farthest corner had shot her an icy glare. Feeling tendrils of her annoyance twitch, she stuck up a finger as a sarcastic response.

Yuki concealed an amused smile, having seen Adriana's rather ill-concealed display of affection. He let the girl absorb the things around them, letting her settle into the world she had to get used to for comfort. But as the moments stretched and trickled through their fingers, the chatter surged, then fell, and all eyes strayed to Adriana.

Yuki coughed discreetly, shifting uncomfortably at the eerie silence looming around them now that the target of the gossip and numerous bets came into the student body's view. He quickly stepped beside Adriana and put a slender, craftsman-made hand on the small of her back. He guided her away from the stares and toward the most secluded table in the whole Cafeteria. Adriana let herself be led away, allowing her eyes to wander about the atrium and the people staring unabashedly after them.

It was a very large room, and it looked to comfortably house most of Kaibara High's nine hundred students. The noise level in some places peaked at an almost unbelievable pitch; the spatter of oil, the banging of fists, the booming laughter, the threats and some explosions from some tables rose to such a volume that the human ear-drum could have been shattered if not for the distance she was being taken to. Adriana had a sudden itch to block her ears and bolt away.

As though sensing her spontaneous anxiety, Yuki nudged her ever-so-gently. Adriana sighed with much heaviness, and wrenched her watering eyes from the surroundings. Her brows furrowed instantly as she found herself face-to-face with six unfamiliar people.

'Miss Aziz,' said Yuki, letting his eyes wander over those before them. 'Allow me to introduce you to a few friends of mine.'

'Who you calling friends?!' belted an orange-haired boy without missing a beat. He glared through his fine early-sunset coloured strands and banged a well-sized fist on the table. If not for his defined human features, Adriana was sure he could have hissed right then.

A girl with golden-sunrise hair glowered menacingly at him. Adriana suppressed a smile as the orange-haired boy visibly shrank that little bit, yet kept that violent façade toward Yuki.

Adriana liked that girl. Whoever the hell she was.

'This is Saki Hanajima,' Yuki resumed, looking mildly irritated by the interruption. Nevertheless, however, he kept his usual cool, collected expression.

Adriana directed her gaze to the girl he gestured gracefully to, and almost openly stared. The introduced denpa looked back at her with an expressionless, pretty, porcelain face. Adriana felt a shudder streak through her like a bullet through the blood, and something cold trickled down her back, like a melting ice-cube of blood.

'Hello,' Hanajima greeted monotonously. Her eyes were a few shades darker compared to Yuki's, and held so many voices and secrets, things that were preferably left to the dead and rotten. Within those dark violet orbs, Adriana could swear that she saw tiny sparks of electricity crackle, like lightening bolts across the moon's face. The sitting girl moved to brush away her embracing black fringe, and Adriana saw that her slender fingernails were painted a haunting ebony.

'I see that you have fine electrical waves.'

She paused, and surveyed her for a few moments.

'Had that not been the case, I would have corrected you.'

She allowed herself the tiniest of tiny smiles.

'Welcome to Japan.'

With the slightest bow, she pierced the new comer with those bullet eyes, and Adriana found herself entranced.

'This is Momiji Sohma,' Yuki blurted hastily, casting an uneasy glance between the near tipping-over Adriana and the deadpanned Hanajima. The new comer blinked, then blinked, and blinked again. Her eyes withdrew from its unfocused haze, and she shook herself, breaking away from Saki's zealous stare. She, instead, let her gaze settle upon a boy with golden locks, who was bouncing in his seat, and sending Adriana a brilliant smile.

'Hi!' he greeted energetically, flailing him arms with a wildness that seemed almost inhuman. 'You have a _really_ pretty face!' He bounced on the soles of his feet, and nearly toppled off the chair. He somehow kept his balance, though with much manic flapping of the arms. With brown eyes glittering, he adjured: 'Ooh! Can I _hug_ you?'

Adriana blinked blankly.

_Why is he wearing a girl's uniform …?_

'Err …_' _

_But, he really is very cute!_

The orange-haired boy glared.

'You _sick_ little – you don't even _know_ the girl, and you want to hug her?!'

Momiji turned to his cousin, and stuck out his tongue.

'You just want to keep her all to yourself 'cause she's so cute – you probably want to hug her, too, Kyo!'

It seemed that a wash of déjà vu swamped over the older boy as though he was under the beating of a waterfall, and he ground his teeth together in attempt not to verbally pummel his younger cousin. Adriana looked on, blatantly bemused.

'Shut up, you little brat!'

He shook his fist, and banged the other on the table. Momiji pulled a grotesque face.

'Excuse them,' put in a boy with the most peculiar hair, tugging on Kyo's uniform patiently. Adriana blinked again. Her eyes then switched to the boy who had spoken, and she felt herself smile.

The new speaker had the first three buttons of his school polo undone, revealing much of his toned chest, something that Adriana couldn't nor wouldn't object to. A considerable amount of glittering chains hung off his neck, and that blankness in his eyes intrigued her. There was a dangerous, almost deadly moon-like shade somewhere in the expression he held; where, Adriana could not put a finger on.

'I'm Hatsuharu Sohma,' the boy said, voice almost as deadpanned as Hanajima's. He stood, held out a hand, and, without permission, grabbed Adriana's, flipped, and kissed it. 'It's very nice to meet the object of the week's gossip.'

He sat himself back and surveyed her with an inquisitive air, almost like a doll maker admiring his creation. Adriana felt cloudy inside.

'_That's_ Kyo Sohma,' Yuki interrupted her fantasies unfavourably, inclining his head rudely at the sulking orange-haired boy at the corner of the table. 'Unfortunately, we're all related,' he added with a deliberately raised voice and an unpleasant look toward a certain someone.

Kyo bristled visibly, and shot Yuki a furious stare.

'Who said I _wanted_ to be related to you, you damn rat?!' he growled, slamming his fist on the table again. Yuki sighed exaggeratedly and ignored him. Adriana looked mildly amused.

'Can't you shut up for a minute, orange-top?' sighed the golden-haired girl across Kyo, crossing her long arms and glaring at him pointedly, one eye concealed with a menace Adriana grinned inwardly at. 'You're giving me a headache, and it's only lunch.'

Kyo altered his gaze to the golden-haired girl, and glared even more.

'Ngeh, shut up, Yankee! Who asked _you!?_'

Yuki turned to Adriana: 'That's Arisa Uotani –'

Arisa cut in savagely, eyes glinting.

'And damn proud of it, too!'

Kyo suddenly turned a steely glare toward Adriana.

'Sit down already! You look _stupid_ standing up!'

Adriana felt her annoyance surge like the ocean tides within her, but kept her temper in check. She wouldn't want to cause such a violent ruckus on her first day at a foreign school, anyway. Especially to someone shooting her petty insults. Besides, Yuki came to her defence with a glare that looked to be especially reserved for Kyo, his beauty changing from mysterious to crackling so fast that Adriana's head spun.

'And you look stupid doing anything, stupid cat.'

Kyo growled, and his eyes flashed.

'Those are fighting words, you damn rat!'

He leapt up, fists raised in defensive stance.

'You trying to start something!?'

Yuki sighed and flicked strands of hair away from his provoking eyes.

'Sit down. I'm not in the mood for you.'

Amazingly, Kyo did as he was told, though with an icy stare toward Yuki, and much, _much _persuasion from the girl beside Arisa Uotani. Adriana turned her gaze to the sea-blue eyed girl, and found herself smiling warmly with the new stranger.

'Hello,' the girl greeted with utmost warmth. She stood up, and bowed to Adriana, brown hair spilling over her slender shoulders. 'I'm Tohru Honda. It's really nice to meet you. The school's been buzzing with rumours about you, you know.' She looked around, still with that smile, at the many furtive, shifty glances being shot their way. 'But, I think you already know about that.'

That smile was just contagious.

'I didn't expect someone like you to come to the school,' Arisa remarked, casting a dismissive glance toward Adriana, who just barely pushed down the bubbling annoyance she suddenly felt. Uotani flicked her hair with two long fingers, and narrowed her eyes almost suspiciously. 'You're not from around here, are you? Japan, I mean,'

'Let's let her settle for lunch first,' Hatsuharu intoned pointedly, moving a place down and deliberately yanked Kyo's hair as an indication for him to budge up. The orange-haired boy grumbled something incoherent – Adriana heard _'metal pipe'_ and _'asshole'_ – and moved without any grace along with his black and white-haired cousin.

Adriana sat in the nearest seat, which was next to Tohru, and squirmed a little, the feeling of being out-of-place overwhelming her again. She cast a side-long glance at Tohru, uneasy and nervous. The girl smiled warmly, and Adriana relaxed somewhat.

'Would you like something to eat?' Tohru inquired. 'I could go up to the Cafeteria lady and ask for a late lunch order if you like. It'll be no trouble at all!' She stood, ready to go, but Adriana put a hand on her arm, alarmed at her kindness.

_'No!_' she exclaimed a little too loudly. She swallowed, and chuckled nervously. 'I mean – n-no, it's all right. I had s-something on the plane, and I don't feel like having to eat anything in case the taste of it comes back somehow.'

Tohru frowned.

'Are you sure you're not hungry? Really, it's no problem. I can go now –' She moved, but Adriana stopped her again. She understood that they wanted to make her feel welcome, but the inquisitive questions and overwhelming offers were beginning to annoy her. Besides, Adriana could see the Uotani girl looking at her from the corner of her eye, either challenging her to blatantly refuse Tohru's offer, or agree and make Tohru go through all the trouble of fetching her lunch. Either way, Adriana felt caught.

'Really, Tohru. Umm. I'm not hungry, but thanks very much for offering. It's very nice of you to do so, you not knowing me and all.'

She offered her best kind smile, and felt the flaming glare boring through her back from Uotani soften slightly ever so slightly.

_Thank God,_ Adriana thought, _that girl's sure got something huge up her ass. And I'm not talking about her enormous broom –_

'So, where're you from?' Uotani insisted languidly, cutting through Adriana thoughts like a crap of a whip in the darkness. 'You look from around here, but that accent tells me different. American?'

Adriana shook her head, holding twin fists in her lap tightly. She was trembling somewhat, yet she knew not why. She thought it was because of the very individual vibes each person on the table radiated, especially that Uotani girl, and the funnily angry boy with the orange hair. And not to mention that strange Hanajima girl.

'I was born in America,' she replied hastily, noticing that she had let Arisa's question hang in the air uncomfortably. 'California, to be exact. But I didn't live there. My parents were travellers, and Mum gave birth to me unexpectedly. I was raised in Malaysia, but somehow the American accent stuck to me. I lived somewhere in Sydney until I came here. That's in Australia,' she added at the look on Tohru's face. 'My dad transferred me here yesterday.'

Uotani hummed placidly, placed her chin on a pale hand, and looked extremely thoughtful. A short pause followed Adriana's speech, all contemplating on the emotions she must be feeling right now. Except Kyo, who was quietly plotting either world domination, or how to break out of the Cafeteria without appearing to be an escaped convict.

'Must have been hard, having to leave all your friends back in Sydney like that?' Arisa brought out, blinking, lashes caressing her cheeks as she did so. She looked at Adriana with an appraising gaze, an eyebrow cocked challengingly. The asked gave a slow nod, recklessly determined to keeping a fresh wave of tears from crashing to shore.

'It was the same for me. Well, sort of, anyway. When I left my gang, I was really close to some of them, you know. But when they heard I was planning to quit, they turned on me without missing a beat.' She looked into space, and sighed. 'Still, I loved them as friends.'

Tohru tilted her head, and rested it on her friend's shoulder.

'Oh, Uo …'

At that moment, the bell sounded, cutting their conversation short. The Cafeteria's noise surged and faltered as the students stood, and filed out in their own paces, shoving and streaming to their afternoon classes. Glances again were shot Adriana's way, and a debate to whose class she was going to go to began with much aggression.

'I'll see you back at the Office at the end of the day, Miss Aziz,' Yuki called, as he joined the throng of students, careful to avoid the female populace. Adriana furrowed her brow, mildly puzzled, but waved nonetheless. The others went on ahead, having gotten a gentle negative from Adriana to their offers of leading her to class. She pulled out the crisp, cold map she had been given from her skirt pocket, and took a deep, calming breath.

'Here we go,' she whispered, and stepped out of the Cafeteria and into her new world.

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Read? Review, then!

**As of August 18th:** Edited x 2


	3. tria

**Disclaimer:** _Fruits Basket and all Fruits Basket characters and things like that belong to Natsuki Takaya and Hana to Yume comics. Everything else you don't recognize, like Adriana Aziz and the plot, (_There's a plot? -.-) _probably belongs to me._

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**The Stream's Winter**  
By Ela-chan

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**Chapter Three**

_Bitterness and the Sohma Household_

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The bell chimed, its sound echoing in every corner of every unusually stuffy classroom there was in Kaibara High. The pleasant harmony of the bell was the signal of yet another school day ending, and the students trapped behind their daily prison walls couldn't be happier. The growing teenagers burst through their numbered classroom doors like exploding fireworks amidst wispy clouds, as rowdy as black-market hagglers. The pristine halls of the high school were filled with chatter and emotions of relief as friends and enemies departed the buildings for home.

Adriana, however, was not as elated as everyone else. She took her time trudging to the School Office once more, keeping her head bowed as though in mourning, and trying desperately to keep her emotions in check. The brown-haired girl sluggishly stepped up to the to the Office ladies, and found herself being squawked at to wait in the same Office once again. She ground her teeth at the answer, and made her way there, willing herself to endure another hour, or eternity, of waiting.

Once she stalked in, however, she found that she was not alone.

Violet eyes glimmered with amusement as he turned his gentle gaze toward her.

'Hello, Miss Aziz,' Yuki greeted from where he stood, leaning his lithe and long adolescent body against the wall, arms crossed and one leg bent with his foot resting behind. He had been staring through the large window behind the Principal's chair, a thoughtful expression camouflaging his eyes like a Halloween mask. Fine strands of his hair fell around his face as though he were a fallen angel with a broken halo.

'Hey, Sohma,' Adriana grumbled lowly, slamming the door behind her. She stepped up to the seat she had sat in earlier that morning and threw herself onto it. She sighed, her breath blowing at the stray silken threads of her brown hair. Twisting in her seat, she meddled with the hem of her blasted skirt, muttering things concerning delinquent tailors and improper measurement lengths.

'Good Afternoon,' came the sudden voice of the same man Adriana had encountered that morning. He had burst into the room, looking haggard and aggravated, almost rather horrifying. The girl watched his every movement as he took out the same papers as he had before, sifted through them, ran tired hands through his hair, and then fixed her with what he must have thought to be a kind gaze. Adriana thought he looked mildly frightening, but pushed those thoughts aside as he spoke. She tried her very best to listen to what he was saying, but the familiar prickling feel at the tip of her fingers was beginning to creep back, and it served as a worthy distraction.

'I don't think you know why you're here again, Miss Aziz.' He said this as one would state "Oh, spiffing weather we have, really." Adriana's nostrils flared, annoyed, and resorted to only rolling her eyes and sinking further into her chair.

The man turned on her a stern eye.

'You will be staying with the Sohma Family,' he said, handing her several more crisp papers after he had signed them. Seeing that she wasn't going to take them from his grasp, the Principal coughed delicately and set them on the desk before her.

Adriana seemed to be in another world; but those words had not settled in yet. When they did however, it seemed her blood had iced over and that the winds had decided to swallow her whole.

She felt the bottom of her stomach fall into a gaping black chasm, and her heart began to race at a peculiarly abnormal pace. The words, as though made of finely chiselled stone, etched themselves in her skull, bringing to Adriana a painful realisation, one that she could never, ever escape, no matter how much she wanted to. She tried to speak, but words failed her yet again.

'All the necessary arrangements have been made. Your father has contacted the school and your legal guardian here in Japan, and he has given his approval of the Sohma Household's environment.'

Adriana openly gawked.

'My father contacted _you?_' she demanded incredulously, her eyes becoming slits of sudden rage. 'Wait, wait, _wait_.' She stood with much stealth, and slammed her hands palm down onto the desk with so much force that several pens and papers began littering the ground.

'I have a legal guardian here in _bloody __Japan_ And I'm – _staying at the Sohma_ – !'

She halted suddenly, mid-word, and took several deep, deliberately fierce breaths. The girl closed her eyes, folded her arms, and let herself fall back onto her chair in an array of almost visible sparks. Her hair fluttered around her as though it were a veil made from dove feathers. From afar, Yuki had to blink several times to clear peculiar images in his mind.

'You know what?' resumed Adriana as evenly as her temperament would allow. 'Whatever. I don't _care _anymore. If people want to push me around and dictate my life, _fine_. Just don't expect anything but bitchy co-operation from me because that's all you're going to _get._'

She snatched the papers off the desk, turned, and stalked to the door, hair flying behind her like a severed cape. Adriana didn't bother to wipe the rebelling tears streaking down her flushing cheeks, nor did she take notice of her quivering fingers and heart.

With her bag swinging on her shoulder, she threw open the door, stepped through it, and slammed it shut. Anger pulsated through every vein in her body like a disease, and the familiar dizziness she felt when her emotions were on a high almost overwhelmed her, eating her away. It was as though she was drowning in a sea of ghosts, and the voice she wanted to call out for help with would not oblige, seeming oblivious to her needs. She turned down the corridor and strode furiously to the nearest exit she could see, eyes curtained by fresh, furious tears.

'Miss Aziz!'

Yuki was calling out to her, but she couldn't care less. The young man's footsteps were quick and light as he caught up, and he eventually fell in step with the easily aggravated girl. Adriana saw from the corner of her eye, by the slight look on his face, that he was immensely concerned. This only caused her emotions to surge with more intensity, with more fighting vigour. Her mind reeled and the world spun in a canvas of smeared oils around her.

'Miss Aziz, I'm sorry if I did anything to offend you. If you're uncomfortable living with us, I could arrange for you to stay at someone else's home. I could ask the school to place you in a house where you know someone. I could –'

Adriana halted. So did Yuki.

'Don't bother, Sohma,' she spat acridly. 'You didn't do anything to offend me. It's everyone else so far who's pissing me the hell _off._ I'd rather stay with _you_ since I know your _name_. I don't know anyone else. Bloody Japan – _why did I have to come here?!_' As she spoke, her voice rose higher in pitch. With an enraged yell, she kicked the concrete wall – and dented it.

Yuki stared and felt his jaw drop the tiniest amount.

'Who do they _think they are_, dictating what happens in my life?! I don't _want_ to be here! Away from home, away from friends, away from every goddamn familiar thing I've come to _know!'_

Yuki suddenly reached for her, but Adriana jerked away, as though burned with an icy flame.

'Just take me to wherever you're supposed to, Sohma,' she hissed, raising her burning eyes to him for the first time since she had stormed from the Office.

Yuki found himself wishing she had not looked up. Those eyes; they were colder, emptier right then than Hatori's; than Rin's: even Akito's. Those dark brown eyes of hers, framed by the thickest and darkest lashes he had ever seen; they sparked with electricity, jolting him through and through, and baring an emotion so raw, Yuki found himself frozen inside and out. A shudder trilled with a screech down his spine, and he shivered involuntarily.

'This way,' he muttered, turning slowly. His footfalls echoed in the corridor with a darkening emptiness as he led the way back toward home. His lavender hair tumbled hither and thither, concealing every emotion that might offend the girl he had just come to know. Adriana followed even slower behind him, head bowed, and hair curtaining her from the rest of the world.

****

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**_Shigure's_****_ Home_**

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****

_'Yu—ki!'_ Shigure sang out as he saw his younger cousin walk inside, raising an arm in the air dramatically as he grasped a freshly inked pen. He frowned as he saw the Rat's expression, enclosed and insecure behind his usual bangs. The Dog of the Jyuunishi lowered his arm and tilted his head questioningly. But that playful glimmer in his eyes did not leave him.

'Yuki, what's wrong? Had another fall-out with your secret love?'

He sniggered gracelessly behind his hand, and raised a slender hand to the heavens – err, roof.

'Oh, the _inevitable_ romance laid out by the vines of fate destined for one Yuki Sohma to stumble upon and become entangled amongst its twines for the remainder of his beautiful human life! The inspiration! The awe! The _wonder!'_ He brought down his hand and stroked his chin thoughtfully, one eyebrow quirking. 'I must have this written before the devil's hands have their way with it!' He scrambled up from his place on the floor and skipped to his Study, belting out songs he had sung with Ayame during his high school days.

Yuki blocked out all sound as the phrase _'My enormous broom and your awfully cramped cupboard'_ came to be sung, and he kept them that way, knowing the coming verses as he had heard them dozens of times in the past. Nevertheless, he did not want the unnecessary dark mental images which were sure to burst into his head upon hearing _'broomstick',_ whatever perverted context it was used in. Whatever Shigure and Ayame did with their _'cleaning utensils'_ was not any of his business, nor did he desire to make it his.

'Ignore him,' he intoned to Adriana, who had heard and just came into the threshold of the house. 'I'll lead you to your room. You don't mind sharing with Miss Honda, do you?'

He walked on ahead.

Adriana, however, halted. Yuki, sensing her restrained footsteps, turned to look at her. There was a wet pause, as though a dark discovery had been made, ignored, and then its true impact realised moments later.

'Umm. I _do_ mind,' she said, twining her arms loosely, not meeting his eyes. 'I'm not used to sharing with other people my personal space. It's always been like that for me. So, do you mind if I sleep in the living room? If it's big enough, that is.'

Yuki looked surprised.

'The living room's fairly sizeable, yes. But, are you sure you want to sleep there? Kyo lives here too, and he normally sleeps there, as well. I wouldn't want to put anyone through torture like that.'

Adriana was reminded of the orange-haired boy's rather bright and amusing temperament, and a slow smile stretched her lips. It wasn't necessarily a humorous smile, nor an amused smile --- it was more of a gesture that an executioner would display, one that was enclosed, yet bare; one that showered everything, and nothing. Yuki was not quite trusting to that expression of hers by the looks of his pained grimace.

'Oh, that's quite all right, Sohma,' she said, flicking her hair with a jerk of her head. 'I'm a big girl; I can handle rats like him.' She cocked her head toward him, smiling even more widely at the misinterpreted reaction she perceived. 'I've seen worse, believe me.'

Yuki found himself returning the smile, though still slightly sore over that rat comparison.

'Well, I'll just get your things for you, then. They're in Miss Honda's room. I'll tell her what you said so she'll understand why you don't want to stay in the same room as her.' This forced an indignant "You make it sound like I hate her!" from Adriana, and a laugh from Yuki. 'I'll just be a minute.'

He offered her another smile, before turning and climbing the stairs by twos.

Adriana watched him until he disappeared by the curve of the stairs, completely lost and swimming in passing thought. Her eyes then wandered about the whole house, curious, prying, and somewhat frightened. She walked placidly, and peered curiously, but cautiously, into every room, appreciating its surroundings, and taking in everything presented to her. It was silent now, and the tiniest movement she made seemed to make a sound loud enough to bang through the walls.

It was going to be difficult fitting in, she knew that. It had taken her the better part of a month to settle in back in Australia, and there, she knew the culture, the people and things around. But here; it was like Adriana was a dirty little lost duckling, carelessly hurled into a silk basket full of trained silver swans. It was the feeling of being out-of-place that really got to her, but she would not let it eat her away.

Her feelings of anger were quickly dissipating, and emotions like curiosity and numb sadness were starting to tick like a clock within her, or like a bomb. She was feeling a little better, now that her emotions were in check, and it was even not that difficult to see clearly anymore. Her body was at peace for the time being, and she was grateful for the release.

Sound came, and her ears suddenly pricked up. She could hear the strange man in his study still singing like a drunkard.

_'Oh, how cruel the sta-a-ars of night, their blades a-swish and a-swipe.__ Come and comfort me beneath the blankets of Lo-o-o-ove …'_

Adriana clamped her hands over her ears, suddenly grinning, and bolted to help Yuki with her things.

* * *

**Read? Review, then! =)**

**As of August 21 - Edited x 2**


	4. quattuor

**Disclaimer:** _Fruits Basket and all Fruits Basket characters and things like that belong to Natsuki Takaya and Hana to Yume comics. Everything else you don't recognize, like Adriana Aziz and the plot,_ (There's a plot? -.-) _probably belong to me._

_

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_

**The Stream's Winter**  
By Ela-chan

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**Chapter Four**

_Discovery and Laughter_

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-

The night herself had settled into a fitful sleep, and the House of the three Sohma men and 'the other' was silent, thick, and lacquered in a peaceful, yet tense darkness.

Adriana lay still, sprawled all over the sofa, eyes wide open and staring at the patched ceiling above. She frowned, remembering a question she had asked of the lavender-haired boy earlier on in the day, just after she had made her bed and helped Tohru with the dishes.

_'Hey, Sohma.__ Why's the house patched up like it is?'_

Yuki had said that he had knocked Kyo clean through the roof when they had gotten into another one of their infamous fights – he had told her of this with a straight face, no less -- and that they had not enough money for the repairs. Adriana thought it all to be bollocks, having someone being knocked through a roof like that (And the fact that they were in a financial situation so poor that they could not afford to patch up a roof properly). But, nevertheless, Yuki's grace and agility was a pro to his story, and so she had settled to neither believe nor decline the story's truth.

As she pondered and counted the many strips of tape rounding the enormous hole in the roof, her ears suddenly twitched, catching whiff of a shadowy movement. Her eyes darted about, shiftily, meticulously, and her heart leapt with a kind of excitement she had grown to be so fond of. Someone was on the roof, and, whoever it was, was shifting on it, as though … as though – _trying to get to sleep!_

Adriana sat bolt up right, like a rake stepped on, and that same, slow smile that had appeared before was now spreading across her face, baring semblance to that of a crazed clown, searching for its next feed.

She whipped off the blanket that she had snugly wrapped around her, and put her feet on the ground. With a trilling shiver through her blood – the floor was _freezing!_ – Adriana tip-toed across the living room's wooden floor, through the kitchen, and out into the open night air.

The wind whipped her hair about, and she shivered again, the whips of wind raising hairs and gooseflesh. She brought her adjusting eyes to the magnificently painted sky, and saw that the stars were twinkling merrily, as though it were the night that the Messiah had been born, and the heavens were rejoicing. It was a clear, crisp night, and Adriana was glad for the warm stillness. A peaceful expression settled across her face, and she could have fallen asleep right there, standing up.

_Shuffle; shuffle_

Her ears perked once more; and again, the smile returned. She whirled around in a flurry of brown hair and ducky pyjamas, smiling like a mad man grasping the hilt of a blood-stained dagger. With a glint of her teeth showing through in the darkening night, she sent a knowing look to the tops of the Sohma Household, eyes glittering and hands clenched, poised, ready.

She took a sprinting jump, and leapt up, so high that she latched onto the gutter, making the slightest of slight noises, like the creak of a jack-in-the-box before the clown's head exploded through. Her smile morphed into a full blown grin as her fingers squirmed and twitched to find comfort, securing her safety. This was a cinch for her, and the fun awaiting made every fibre in her body tingle and vibrate with buzzing anticipation. With an easy haul, she brought herself up, into the air, and onto the roof, crouched on all fours, as though ready to pounce at an unsuspecting animal.

Well, that wasn't necessarily a lie.

With much stealth and stunning precision, she crept across the shadowed part of the roof, ascending until she came to the point where the other part descended, like a stairwell to Hell. She carefully placed her long digits on the higher part, and peeked over mischievously, eyes glittering like raw diamond fragments.

Her eyes came face to face with a bright orange head. Some strands that were caught by the wind tickled her nose. That smile, if it were possible, widened to its extreme.

Adriana brought her hands up slowly, quietly, adrenaline building higher and higher inside of her, like every sin kept hidden from the priest. With the loudest yell she could muster, she brought her hands raining down on Kyo, like raindrop bullets, and shook the living cat hairs out of him.

'**_Kyo Sohma!_**' she bellowed into the night like a banshee, catapulting a parliament of black owls out of the nearby trees. Several dogs and wolves in the distance yelped, completely mortified, and bolted off.

Kyo reacted with an even louder yell of his own. He jerked violently and bolted off the roof as fast as he could; so fast, that he looked only to be blurring of a blur as he streaked across the landing, and leapt off. Adriana saw that he was breathing very heavily and fast, a very sure sign that her intention was, indeed, fulfilled.

And with that, she burst out laughing.

Kyo whirled around incredulously, utterly baffled and looking quite bizarre as he began to lash at the invisible enemies he now seemed to think he had. But when he heard the laughter, his eyes darted back to the roof, and upon seeing who it was, a ferocious glare captured every vein in his dark orange eyes.

'You – where the _hell_ did you – _What the hell was that for?!_'

He took a running jump, much similarly to Adriana's, and leapt onto the roof, not even misplacing a single strand of his sunset-coloured hair. He was beyond furious, beyond reason, and he displayed as much as he stalked to the rolling-on-the-ground laughing girl, and loomed above her, hands clenched into fists, and several veins popping in his head.

'What the hell are you doing here?!' he demanded through gritted teeth, unclenching and clenching his fists several times. He seemed to be restraining himself from physically lashing at Adriana, at a girl. But, surely everyone had their limits.

'You – holy – _damn_ it, that was good,' wheezed Adriana, tears of mirth now leaking from the corners of her eyes. Her sides were beginning to ache, and she clutched them from fear that they would collapse.

'I'm still waiting for your damn answer, you stupid girl,' Kyo ground out, his teeth clenched and grinding. When he blinked to rid his eyes of the angry spots clouding them, he found himself, to his utmost alarm, that he was pinned to the ground, a slender knee into his stomach, and a pointed elbow at his throat. He was instinctively careful to keep his arms away from her.

'I don't think you'd like to repeat that,' Adriana whispered, her voice now silken, dangerous and hot, so close to Kyo's face, his lips. Her eyes had darkened, and Kyo blinked, confused at the sudden alteration of subject and mood and atmosphere and _how the hell did she attack so damn fast?!_

At the stricken fear catching on Kyo's face like a broken net would dead fish, Adriana's face softened, and she snorted, bursting again into peels of uncontrollable laughter. She rolled off Kyo, completely relaxed, and again clutching her sides.

'Oh, god, you're _such _a bloody sissy,' she gasped out, having only the energy to look at him once, then burst into bigger waves of mirth. Her head was beginning to ache from all the laughing, but it was just too funny to pass up. It wasn't everyday you got to scare the living daylights out of someone on an unfamiliar roof.

Kyo was beginning to get annoyed. Not only did this girl scare the crap out of him – and every other bodily fluid for that matter – she attacked him without even breaking a nail! And not only that, he _didn't_ _know_ that she was going to attack him! And not only _that_, her full strength must make that damn rat look like a turtle if she could attack and laugh at him at the same damn time!

'Are you done yet?!' he shouted, glaring so ferociously that his face contorted. His hands gripped the sides of his shirt as his arms stuck rigid like planks parallel to his leg.

Adriana took one good look at him, and burst out laughing once more, so uncontrollably this time, that she rolled, rolled and rolled – right off the roof.

-

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****

**Read? Review, then! =)**


	5. quinque

**

* * *

Disclaimer:** _Fruits Basket and all Fruits Basket characters and things like that belong to Natsuki Takaya and Hana to Yume comics. Everything else you don't recognize, like Adriana Aziz and the plot,_ (There's a plot? -.-) _probably belong to me._ _

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_

**The Stream's Winter**  
By Ela-chan

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**Chapter Five**

_Fighting and Shigure Sohma_

* * *

Above the perpetual Earth, Lady Moon's borrowed illumination throbbed through the thinning clouds like a dying heart, gifting the star-sprayed sky with an open, heavily lashed eye, like a Mother's, watching over them as they played and twinkled joyously. The air had a sweet sick smell about it, like wilting roses dipped in heavenly blood, both coating and lacerating lovingly each living creature alive. But, for some, the atmosphere's well-being was the last thing on their minds.

Kyo's eyes widened, and a fear of sorts thudded through his blood like a disease. He moved to pull her back, his stealth-lacquered reflexes getting him to the edge of the roof in a blink of an eye; but – she had already fallen beyond that terrifying edge, like a cliff's threat, and out of arm's reach, and so he was left there, a bare arm extended, unable to help in any way. His stunningly anxious eyes involuntarily closed, and his head turned away, in fear of seeing death's accusing face loom right before him, whispering of a new accusation it wanted Kyo to believe. He waited to hear the sickening crunch of her body as it collided with the cold soil, waited to hear it shatter into a million pieces of misery and mocking mirth –

But – it didn't come.

Kyo's eyes flew open, as though curtains were torn apart, revealing raw emotion from the past swirling like uncategorised thought, and he raced to the edge, legs aching from the sudden muscle stretch. His eyes darted toward the ground immediately, and saw Adriana on the ground, curled up like a newborn kitten, but more or less appearing perfectly safe, unharmed. But despite that, Kyo could see that she was paralysed with fear at having fallen from such a great height, and he could also see, as his eyes strayed and narrowed, _Yuki's clothes!_ The damn rat! He must have heard the racket they were making and came out to see. Usual prying little bastard, Kyo thought fiercely, that same anger he reserved for the Jyuunish Rat surfacing like a dead body in a river. And the wise ass _caught _her, and he must have transformed!

With a menacing growl grating from the back of his throat like a nail on rusted tin, Kyo leapt off the roof, and landed lightly on his feet. He strode furiously to Adriana's side, and promptly jabbed her on the head.

'Hey, _you,_' he spat, prodding brashly. His brows crunched together when he received no response, and he bent slightly, putting long hands on his knees. With an observant temperament, he eyed her tense form, and the way she was curled into herself so tightly. His brows knitted even more.

'Are you dead or what?'

Without warning, Adriana turned and lashed at him with a bony hand. Her composed fingers gripped his wrinkled collar, and she hauled herself up that little bit, bringing their faces so closely together that Kyo could almost feel the electricity sparking from her eyes, the warm breath ventilating from her parted lips.

'You insensitive _jackass,_' she hissed. Her hand released him, and Kyo let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding, much to his chagrin. 'I fall from the highest roof in _bloody __Japan_, and you ask if _I'm dead or what?!_'

She leapt up, and immediately went into defence stance, eyes as fierce as a lioness hunting for prey. The clothes Kyo discreetly kicked aside went unnoticed. Adriana's lips were curled into a smirk, a scowl, a sneer – everything, anything.

'That's _it,_ you daisy carrot ass sissy!' she yelled, eyes glinting with a gleaming brightness Kyo was now growing steadily annoyed with. A smirk found its way on the boy's lips, and he straightened gracefully, with the grace of cat, and crossed his arms over the broad shoulders sculpted from endless training.

'I don't hit girls,' he smugly threw at her, condescendence netting his every feature.

Adriana's hair crackled, thoroughly and utterly pissed off. Her upper lip curled, and she attacked with speed that could melt a bullet. Kyo barely had time to block the high kick she had literally hurled at him, sending electrifying jolts through and through his very blood, and even less time to keep himself alive from the upper cut she hammered at him, catching the flesh straight across his forearm like burning metal. Adriana withdrew from her attempts stealthily; hands splayed out, and surveyed Kyo with an intensity that had steadily begun to gather within her, letting him absorb the tip of the iceberg.

'I don't hit girls either,' she said, grinning wolfishly. Glints of superiority and experience shimmered in her eyes like cracked bits of crystallised coal. 'But in _your_ case, I'll make an exception.'

Kyo's once amazingly baffled face contorted into that of anger and annoyance, and, he too, went into defence stance, blood pumping into his ears like the beat of bee's heart.

'You're a wise ass, you know that!' he hollered, blocking another heavy punch Adriana hurled with a readiness he himself did not know he possessed. Pain jetted through his arm as she tried another way of penetrating his defence. She certainly was no Hatsuharu, nor even a Yuki. No, she was stronger; much, _much_ stronger. He wouldn't be surprised if he lost to her, (he would be more surprised if he won) but he sure wasn't going to be prancing about, incredibly happy over it either.

'People have said that,' Adriana gasped, quickly ducking a kick Kyo threw at her neck. As Kyo's weapon soared above her head, she flashed him a cheeky grin, eyes twinkling in the strong rays of the moon. As fast as she had ducked, she straightened, grabbed his leg as it was in mid-air with both hands, and hurled him several feet away, looking as though she had flicked a fly. Kyo rolled thrice, landed on flat on his back, and stayed that way as he let the pain jet through him slowly, then fade away.

Clapping greeted her ears, and Adriana turned, breathing deeply.

The man she had earlier heard sing was on the patio, enthusiastically applauding her clear win. A brilliant smile graced his lips as he clapped, and Adriana noticed that he was wearing a traditional kimono, baring a portion of his toned chest and abdomen. She found herself not minding that he may have forgotten to close up his kimono fully.

'Dazzling!' he praised, trotting down to stand before her, all in his cheeky glory. He bowed formally, and held out a well-sized hand. 'I'm Shigure Sohma, owner of this house, and your guardian.'

Adriana swallowed, and took several breaths before accepting his handshake. Shigure shook her hand, and the rest of her thoroughly, leaving her still moving as he broke the gesture. The older man looked into the distance, squinting as he saw Kyo finally get up, then bolt away. He caught the look of alarm on Adriana's face, and consoled her quickly.

'Don't worry about Kyo,' he said with a cheery face, slapping Adriana on the back none too gently. 'He can't take it when dear Yuki beats the living daylights out of him, but now, being beaten by you like that, in no less than ten moves, and your being a girl, and in ducky pyjamas no less!' He slapped her again, and this time, Adriana slapped him back equally hard, a non-appreciative look settling over her face. 'Well, let's just say I won't be trying anything on you in the near future.' He coughed slightly, and winked, grimacing.

'I'll see to it that you don't,' came another voice, and Shigure found himself being glared at by his younger cousin. 'Your perverted nature seems to be a hopeless case, doesn't it, Shigure?'

The older man sobered quickly, and looked at Yuki with utmost solemness.

'I know, Yuki,' he said sadly, hanging his head. A moment passed; then his head was up again, the same cheery face plastered there once again. 'Isn't it just _marvellous!_' He turned back to Adriana, who was staring at him blankly. Shigure flicked her nose, and grabbed her hand. 'Let's have some tea since we're all up. Then you can tell me all about your lover's spat with Kyo.'

Adriana let herself be led away. It looked like there was nothing she could do to help the situation she had now been caught in. Besides, she wanted to savour the win she had just achieved, and wouldn't it be a little more pleasurable if there were some tea at hand? Of course it would.

Yuki followed in their wake, glaring daggers at the back of Shigure's head.

* * *

**_Some time later_**

****

-

They sat around the table, steaming mugs of green tea clutched in their hands. Adriana took a careful sip. Shigure took four. Yuki was still glaring.

'So, Adriana,' he began, fixing her an amused, sly look. 'How did you end up fighting with Kyo? It's not very often he has a fall out with someone in the middle of the night.' He hummed, stroking his chin thoughtfully. 'Except that one time when Yuki was going to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and Kyo heard him from his room and thought that he was being sneaked up on, and he ambushed Yuki in the bathroom half way through his –'

'What he means,' Yuki cut in sharply, like a blade into raw flesh, before his cousin could reveal any more of their nocturnal secrets, 'is that what did you do to provoke Kyo to fight? He doesn't hit girls – one of his few good traits.'

Adriana blinked.

'Well,' she said carefully, not wanting to burst out laughing as the scenes of Kyo's fright due to her little prank played over and over in her head like a broken camera. 'It's – a funny story, actually. I heard someone on the roof when I was trying to get to sleep tonight, and I remembered Yuki saying that Kyo slept in the living room, too. But he wasn't here yet, so I figured it was the daisy carrot ass sissy —' here, Shigure gave a gigantic snort – 'who was up there. So I went up on the roof, snuck up behind him, and stuffed what was left of his dignity up his ass.'

'And I imagine he turned into a girl, started waving neon pink pompoms while brandishing his fake silicon breasts?'

Adriana blinked again. Yuki coughed and drank some more tea.

'He didn't, um, wave anything around,' replied Adriana, careful not to think of anything else that could be waved around, namely broomsticks and whatnot. 'He just yelled as loud as I did and jumped off the roof. Then he started to kick the air around him for quite a while. That's when I started to laugh at him.'

'He fought you because you laughed at him?' came the deadpanned reply.

Adriana blinked once again.

'No, he didn't fight me just because of that. I laughed so hard that I fell off the roof, right? I still don't know how I landed on the ground without breaking anything though.' At this, Yuki looked away uncomfortably. Shigure saw his display and nudged him under the table, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at the only girl present. Adriana turned thoughtful for a moment, looking at the table in thought, before breaking out into speech again.

'Anyway, he poked me and said "Are you dead or what?" I didn't like how he said it, so I kicked his ass.'

Shigure made a dramatic show of gasping. Yuki allowed himself an ill-concealed smirk.

'_You attacked him?!_'

Adriana drank the last of her tea, and got up.

'Well, it's been a long night,' she said, sighing contently, amused at their expressions. Honestly, it wasn't that big of a deal that she had sent that idiot flying like that.

She stretched, and yawned, showing a portion of her stomach, which Shigure did not miss out on blatantly appreciating.

'Better hit the hay, gents. G'night.'

Adriana walked around them, and thumped Shigure on the back once more, causing him to snort in a considerable amount of his scalding tea. Yuki laughed as Shigure nearly cried from the pain, flapping about his long hands frantically.

The girl exited the kitchen, and entered the living room, where her blanket lay exactly where she had thrown it. With a sigh, she settled into the soft couch, and snuggled into its warmth. Within seconds, she was fast asleep.

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**Read? Review, then!**


	6. six

**Disclaimer:** _Fruits Basket and all Fruits Basket characters and things like that belong to Natsuki Takaya and Hana to Yume comics. Everything else you don't recognize, like Adriana Aziz and the plot,_ (There's a plot? -.-) _probably belong to me._

**Ela Squawk:** _Adriana's birthday is very near. This'll end soon._

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**The Stream's Winter**  
By Ela-chan

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**Chapter Six**

_Sharing isn't always caring_

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--

'All right, boys, line up.'

A fierce glare caught him around his neck like a broken fisherman's net, imprisoning his fear together. He started violently, flinching back as though scalded by an icy flame. Those eyes pierced through his mind like a rusted spear wrought to kill, whipping into him a reapproaching thought that he should not have missed. His slanted, watery eyes darted to her slender hands, both balled into twin fists of annoyance. With a half-anxious, half-apologetic look, he corrected himself, inclining his head slightly.

'Err – my apologies, Miss Aziz. Y'see, I'm not, as of yet, _accustomed_ to having a female member in my Martial Arts class. Pardon my mistake.' He straightened himself, attempting to shake off the coldness emanating from Adriana.

'Boys, and girl, line up.'

Adriana's glare still had not melted. The teacher withered like a burning rose under her stare.

'P – Please?'

There were fifteen students – fourteen male, the other female – in the Martial Arts class – the _only_ class of its sort – in Kaibara High, and it was one of their first lessons with this teacher. Most of them were fairly well acquainted with the other, having chatted companionably in the corridors concerning the upcoming lessons they were to have during the rest of the year. There were only a handful of people who chose to play a more silent, yet active, role in the lesson, and Adriana was not one of them. She stepped from the crowd of male students, and walked until she was barely metre from their coach.

'It's not very hard to remember that there is only _one_ girl in your class, teacher,' Adriana intoned sweetly, like raw honey dribbling from a hive. 'I would appreciate it if you did not forget again.'

The teacher chuckled nervously, loosening his collar.

'My – my apologies again, Miss Aziz. Please, join your peers and I shall begin today's lesson.'

He gestured gracelessly to the wide space between Yuki and Kyo, who were both firmly insisting that they suffered mercilessly violent allergies toward the other, hence the distance they put between them. Adriana heard Kyo saying he had only of recent time been terribly ailed by a sneezing fit, claiming that he was 'allergic to bullshit', all the while not-so-discreetly glowering at a certain lavender-haired boy, who muttered something about 'brainless mother fuckers' in the most dignified of ways.

Nevertheless, despite the irked mumbles beneath their breaths, Adriana walked cattily from her stationery place from the teacher – who quaked at her presence –, and toward the space between the two boys she had grown to tolerate over the last week. Once there, however, she opted not to stand like every other normal person, but settled herself quite comfortably on the cushioned floor, legs considerably apart, and elbows resting lazily on her knees. Many of the boys down the line almost literally crawled over each other to watch her hungrily, seeing as she wore the same thing as the rest of them: shorts cut to come quarter way through the thigh and second-skin-esque for maximum movements, and a sleeveless, almost transparent shirt, made from a material akin to silk and very thin wool.

'Everyone settled? Excellent!'

Kito rubbed together his long hands, grinning toothily, an abnormally manic gleam in his eyes. He walked down the line and up, careful to avert his eyes from Adriana's provocative sitting position, who coolly and nonchalantly watched as he went past her. The older man inspected them for quite a while – though not so thoroughly for Adriana – and walked back to the place he had commenced, hands clasped behind his back.

'We have some raw talent here, lady and gents,' he said, like a cannibalistic clown gleefully contemplating on which part of the human body to consume first. His eyes glittered in a strange, eerie, almost alien-like sort of way, and Adriana rolled her own, crossing her legs together and resuming position Indian-style. Collective disappointed groans and sighs of relief came quietly from certain young men after her move, but Adriana was oblivious to it all.

'I see that all of you are aware of your God-given talents, and I can also see the futures that most of you might have.' Approved hisses scattered through the line like sparks from a wild fire. Kito walked, like a sergeant inspecting his soldiers. 'But what I _cannot_ see is the determination that you can channel the skills you have into a beautiful thing: that is, the beauty of Martial Arts, and how this certain trade can mould the human body into the most supple, the most _beauteous_ of things.'

'Jitsuko,' he said flatly, suddenly, jabbing a long thumb toward the open space in front of the class. 'Get up there. I'll be giving you some prompts, and you are to dance for us.'

Taj Jitsuko, a tall, lithe young man of seventeen, openly stared at him, half-begging Kito to burst out with a _'Ha, joking. Gotcher arse, didn't I?'_, and half-inwardly saying _'Not until Aziz does a strip tease, teacher. And we all know that's as likely as both the Sohma guys kissing each other's arses.'_

'Jitsuko, we're waiting.'

The younger jerked, appearing to have been startled out of a reverie, or some sort of forbidden fantasy. He scrambled to the assigned place and stood there, straight-backed, alert, and looking completely lost. A subtle wave of hearty and humorous sniggers surged through the classmates gathered, and even Adriana had to suppress a smile threatening to expose itself.

'Good. Reassuring to know you can follow a simple command, Jitsuko.' He allowed another wave of sniggers to crash about before resuming, settling himself on the only stool in the whole of the gymnasium reserved for them for each lesson they had. 'Now, Jitsuko, adapt defence stance.'

The boy obliged, uncertainty dripping from his eyes like fresh blood from a wound.

'Good. Now, with the use of your punch and kick, dance for us.'

Jitsuko's stricken expression was almost laughable. One of the boys, most likely one of the few who could risk it to talk without exploding into embarrassing snorts, spoke up, albeit with amusement written all over him like a vandalised mural.

'Uh, teacher? I don't think it's safe for Jitsuko to do that.' Then, as an afterthought: 'I don't think it's safe for the rest of us, either.'

A pause.

'So be it. Jitsuko, go back into line. Yuki Sohma, Kyo Sohma. Up you get.'

Fourteen pairs of eyes blinked, seeming to be caught off guard by the sudden alteration. The other pair, however, merely rolled themselves, resuming a somewhat amused light. A whiff, a shadow of a smile could just be seen at the corner of her lips, indicating the amusement she felt trickling through her like lazy rain on a hazy day.

'I better not have to do anything with that damn Yuki,' growled Kyo, eyes flashing with a danger that even made Yuki slightly uneasy. He stomped to where Kito was indicating with his head, looking utterly unhappy with the arrangements, as slightly opposed to Yuki's composed strides. As they walked, Adriana sat up a little straighter, and became a little more attentive.

'Dance, gents.'

Kito didn't seem to be taunting them in the slightest, but Kyo's inexorable paranoia (according to Adriana) seemed to kick in almost immediately, contorting his face.

'I told you I'm not doing anything with that damn ass, much less some pansy _jig!_'

Yuki sighed, crossing his arms like a mutinous four year old.

'And do you think I'd like to do anything with _you_, resident moron?'

Kyo rounded on him, fingers curling like the spindly legs of a black widow spider.

'Oh, I'm _sorry._ I missed the part where _I asked you a damn question!_'

Yuki sighed, mock patience lacquering his every word.

'One: You should be sorry for everything you do. Two: You didn't ask anyone a question. Three: Stop acting like a child and just follow the instructions given.' He threw the orange-haired boy a condescending look, the corners of his lips turning up. 'Or are you afraid of getting beaten in front of the entire class, even during a dance?'

A tense pause, a tightening throat.

'Oh, that's it, pansy boy. You're _on_.'

The words squeezed through Kyo's clenched teeth, and Adriana's brows furrowed. His tone was much colder than usual, colder than hot ice, and it did not sit well with her. She knew that such rage should not be channelled into one's fight from experience, as they led to irreversible injuries, to one's own self, and those around them. As this thought drifted across her mind like a summer day's lone cloud, a hand instinctively went to her stomach, where a set of long scars criss-crossed, making a remote image of contorted thready pattern.

'Just don't hurt yourself. I wouldn't want to be the one who has to clean your blood.'

And with this last hanging threat, like a lightening indecisive on whether to kill, Yuki blocked a stealthy punch lashed out by Kyo, a steely glare settling over his face like the darkness steadily consuming the earth. As his arm absorbed the shock of the blow with no emotion, Yuki curled the nimble fingers of his other hand around Kyo's upper arm, and hurled him behind his back, eliciting a gasp from almost every mouth in the room. Three guesses who merely watched disapprovingly.

Kyo's sunset hair sailed through the air like falling rose petals, and he landed on the floor roughly, the impact sending colossal shock waves surging through his body, up his spine and across his senses. His mind reeled violently, as though he had been spun a thousand times against his will, before he shook himself thoroughly, coming back to his senses. His burning rage withered a little, like a doll's hair set alight by a little girl, invaded by tendrils of humiliation and pain. He made an about-face so fast that his hair swished and slapped him across his eyes. Bee sting-like sensations assaulted him, and he growled, standing stark still, awaiting Yuki, who stood a short distance away, watching him carefully, calculatingly, and with more than a little contempt.

'I've told you countless times to keep your guard up. You never listen.'

Something frayed inside of Kyo, like trickles of a ribbon wrought of water being burnt.

'Why should I listen to someone so _worthless_ like _you?!_'

A smile, full of dark memories that should never have been remembered.

'Because you're just like me. Worthless.'

The ribbon within snapped, cracking through the air like a blood-stained whip. Kyo recoiled involuntarily, stung by the mere words. Whether Yuki was serious or not, he could not help but feel the eerie sense of foreboding boil from somewhere in his ears, and drip into his system slowly, poisoning him to a death most inevitable.

Yuki watched him for a long while, and for a moment, his aura seemed to alter to that of Akito; cold, unforgiving, stubborn, unyielding, as though he achieved some sort of masochistic pleasure through emotional murder, by snatching away the remaining sanity in one's own tormented mind.

The poison within Kyo was brimming now, and memories stabbed him from all directions. The incessant accusations and falsehood he knew they said to put him down rained on him like metal bullets, piercing, drawing invisible blood, and black words tore from his constricting throat like stained paper being ripped to a million shreds.

'**_Liar!_** It's not my **_fault!_**'

With that, he threw Yuki one last look, one that was of betrayal, and fled the room, leaving everyone in his wake ogling with a sense of awe and confusion.

Adriana glared at Yuki intensely.

_That_ was uncalled for.

The lavender-haired boy turned to her, seeming to have felt a gaze on him, and mouthed a quiet sorry, more to himself than anyone else. Without acknowledgement that he had looked at her, Adriana darted out of the room and after Kyo.

Yuki watched her go, sad eyes following her slowly. When she was gone and only the sound of slamming doors stung them, he fell to his knees hard, hands clawing violently at the cushioned floor, oblivious to the tears that fell.

--

* * *

--

Adriana ran, faster than she had ever in her whole life. Her feet were mere blurs of blurs as she sprinted after Kyo, who was around a hundred metres ahead, chanting that it wasn't his fault. An emotion most unfamiliar was swirling rapidly in her chest like unsorted thoughts in the mind, locked away, but now untimely released. She didn't know what it was that made her come after the orange-haired boy, but whatever it was, Adriana did _not_ hate it. Right now, the only she _could _hate was the motivation Yuki felt to crush Kyo as he did.

Her feet slowed as his did. She watched him expertly clamber onto a roof, and even from here, she could see him shaking. Once, he lost his footing, and hung onto the gutter half-heartedly, dangling very high up like an action figure held over the window by a child, looking as though he had not the desire to correct himself. Adriana watched him, surprised that she felt apprehensive. Kyo, it appeared, came to his senses once again, and hauled himself up, resting on the roof on his knees, hands pasted on them, looking resigned.

Adriana slinked back into the shadowed shelters of the building across Kyo's, and there, she waited.

--

* * *

--

'It's nice up here, isn't it?' Adriana called out softly, standing on the roof uncertainly. A dying rose was grasped in her hand, one that she had plucked from one of the school's many rosebushes. It lay still in her hand, petals dancing a ritual to the breeze picking up around them. It was beginning to snow, but the coldness in her eyes was much, much more frigid. They held hidden secrets and memories, ones that were safer to be locked away and never looked at again. But, sometimes, no matter how much you did against something, it only pushed you nearer to it, shattering your hopes, and making them bloom into reality.

'What are you doing here? I didn't say I wanted company. Especially from _you._'

His tone was not even close to leering, but quite the opposite. He sounded like an orphan being offered for the first time a home not only full of strangers, but full of offered love and a secure future. Adriana cautiously, but determinedly stepped toward him, and let out a tiny breath, relieved that he did not leap away from her, offended.

'Think what you want. I'm only here to watch the sky.'

Kyo's eyes darted to her – sure that he was being mocked But as he caught the expression she wore, like a mourner's veil, something within him deflated, like the air being snatched away by a first kiss. He surveyed Adriana with a careful eye, still slightly suspicious of her motives.

'Do what you want. I don't care anymore.'

'I never said you had to.'

A pregnant pause. An uncharacteristic promise to himself being broken.

'You never said I couldn't.'

It was as though an old penny wrapped in silken material fell between them like curtains cut down, allowing some light to fall inside, like rain on a serene pond. They both looked at the other, and shared the faintest of faint smiles, so faint, that it was almost impossible to see, almost invisible to the human eye.

Almost.

Adriana sat a little ways away from Kyo. Her form was tense, and she felt as though she were walking on shards of glass, afraid of letting her skin being pierced, afraid of breaking the fragility of it. Her breaths were coming in slowly, in shallow strips, indicated to her own mind that she was half-way calm, and half-way afraid.

_'Afraid of what?'_ she thought, annoyed.

'See how ugly Yuki is. He's not all that everyone makes him out to be. He has an ugly side just like everyone else. But his is much darker, much more poisonous. He's human after all. Isn't he?'

Adriana did not speak, but only listened.

'He's been trying to say that to me for a long time now. I just know it. He's only been saying fragments of it every now and then through the times when he beats me. And, damn it all, I thought I would be prepared when he finally said!' He buried his head in his arms, willing his fears to be covered in much the same way. 'Shows how strong I really am.'

That pulled at Adriana's heartstrings, pulling them taut and stretched, so much so that she winced.

'I don't understand a damn thing right now!'

He let his fist bang unceremoniously to the roof, cracking a tile. It was silence before that, and it silence again after it.

'When he said those words to me, I tried to think of Tohru's words … about her acceptance of me. But, no matter how hard I tried … no matter what I did … memories of my mother just kept on … _killing_ me. I don't _understand _it. I thought once that I've _forgotten_ about her …'

A pause, like the interval between each second of the clock.

'You can never forget about a person, even if you wanted to so badly.'

'Stop it!' Kyo suddenly yelled, scrambling away from her as though she was a disease. His breaths were coming to him heavily, as though the very air in his lungs had been stolen away from him, and held high above his nose, just beyond his reach.

Adriana was silent, passive and thoughtful. She looked at Kyo, her eyes brimming with misery, and, for a split second, Kyo thought he saw something flash, as though he had just witnessed a memory flick through her mind like the pages of a book. A shudder went through him, and he found himself shivering. Snow fell around them like the tears of God himself, but the two did not notice.

'You know,' Adriana said carefully, bringing her knees up and resting her chin on them. 'There are a lot of things in this world I don't understand. Just like you. Like when my sister died. I didn't know her, much less meet her. She was a miscarriage before me, around a few months older, I think.' Her fingers played with the sole thorn on the rose's stem. 'Mum told me about her. I still don't know why, but I cried. Yet … and this is the part that really, really gets to me; how can you cry over someone you don't know? How can you mourn a loss you never had the victory to gain in the first place?' She pricked her finger on the thorn, and blood leapt from the tiny wound. Her eyes held many emotions, but the pain swirling in them had nothing to do with the little wound she had acquired. 'I didn't understand how I felt, so I just cried even more.' She stopped, and a lone tear escaped her eye. A tired smile was on her lips, and she swiped away the tear, sighing.

'But, ah, why am I telling you this, anyway,' she muttered, moving to get up. A thin curtain of silken brown hair concealed every emotion flitting across her irises, barring Kyo from what she felt. 'Like you said, I should stop, before I say something I'll regret.'

She got up, and had just taken a step, before she felt her hand being grasped. Adriana looked down, and saw that Kyo was now standing beside her, still looking to the far distance, but now had his hand grasping hers very firmly. Her brows knitted, and she shivered.

'Stay,' he whispered, and Adriana did. Both sat beside the other, this time just a little bit closer, so that their shoulders touched. He didn't let go of her hand.

It was amazing, that when two humans shared such painfully raw memories, when they bared even a fraction of their inner self, their _true_ self, that they could weave embroidery so intricate, it was almost magical. With their feelings connected like that, _bared_ like that, they formed some sort of contract under a law still unfound by the oblivious human being.

It was something both were very, very new to.

Kyo didn't know why, but he found himself trusting her, more so, in fact, than he trusted anyone else. It was confusing to him, for the few minutes she had spoken from her heart, how much different she could be when she was like this, how much deeper she was, so deep, that she was nearly at his level in the well of despair, just there, to keep him company.

'My mother died when I was five,' he began, voice devoid of all emotion. 'Her name was Sakura, and she was known to be the most beautiful woman in the Sohma family.'

Adriana sucked in a deep breath.

'She wasn't killed, if that's what you're thinking,' Kyo continued in a low voice, finally breaking his gaze to look at her, a challenging glint in his eye. 'She committed suicide.'

_'Go on. Feel pity. I_ dare _you' _his eyes said, and Adriana looked in them, sad and understanding.

'People blamed me for her death, saying that I was the cause to all her suffering. They all say that my mother couldn't take it anymore, so she killed herself. My father was the first to point the finger.'

He kept his eyes trained on her, unyielding; but no matter how hard he tried to keep the tears in, one fell. It trailed from his tear duct, down his nose, to the tip, and landed on his lip. Adriana gazed at it serenely, and brought her lips to his, kissing it away. It was the more natural thing that she did it. It was more natural feeling that made her do it.

Kyo did not move. When Adriana had pulled away, his eyes were not ungiven anymore, but instead, full of life, and shining with a brightness she had never seen before, on herself, or on anyone else. She found herself smiling, and Kyo smiled back. They nudged up some more, and watched the snow fall until sunset.

--

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**Read? Review, then! =)**


	7. septem

**Disclaimer:** _Fruits Basket and all Fruits Basket characters and things like that belong to Natsuki Takaya and Hana to Yume comics. Everything else you don't recognize, like Adriana Aziz and the plot, (_There's a plot? -.-) _probably belongs to me._

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**The Stream's Winter**  
By Ela-chan

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**Chapter Seven**

_Courage and the Jyunnishi Master_

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It had been several weeks now since Kyo and Adriana had made their relationship bare to others.

Shigure couldn't stop taking pictures for weeks, constantly whipping out a camera that had the most irritating flash every time from when they merely touched hands, to when they kissed and prolonged the act. Yuki, on the other hand, accepted the news without word, and locked himself in his room for the rest of the day, claiming to have felt ill and in dire need for some personal space. Tohru had hugged Adriana, saying that she was happy for them, and hoped that they would bring each other the utmost ethereal feeling of bliss.

And it was true.

Anyone could see that they were happy in each other's presence, and though they argued a fair amount, they would always find a way to reduce their angry words into laughter and gaiety.

In those few weeks, Kyo knew how Hatori felt when he had been with Kana. His older cousin had once told him of how it was, being with another like this.

_'It was a perfect world. It was reality, yet coated with the very dust dreams were made of. Happiness radiated from her very words and eyes, engulfing my heart wholly. I was drowning in her, and I felt no regret having fallen in love.' _

_'But all good things had to come to an end.' _

_--_

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**__**

--

'Come, Kyo,' Akito said, his voice liquid silver and calm, newly melted, and made to burn. He beckoned the orange-haired boy with a long, unhealthily pale finger, and Kyo stood, walking to his Master as though strung by webs, unable to escape even if he desired to.

No escape. No rescue.

Kyo knelt before the standing Akito, head bowed; respectfully or fearfully, he himself did not even know.

Akito's fingers slid under his chin like a spider toying with prey, and he tilted Kyo's face to gaze into his. Piercing cold eyes seared into Kyo's soul like a rusted baton coated in hot blood, and he felt as though he was being stripped of every secret he had sworn on his life to keep.

'A monster … falling in love? How – _sweet_.'

He jerked his fingers from Kyo's chin, and struck him, hard. Adriana's anger surged, but a darting of sharp eyes from Shigure kept her in place. Her nails dug into her flesh like a lion's paw into a gazelle as she clenched her hands, forming red crescents, like crackling red moons falling from the sky. She cared not for her pain, but her lover's own.

Kyo's head snapped to the side, but he didn't move. An angry, burning hand-print began to flame on his cheek like dry straw set alight, stark against his feverish skin. Akito smiled slowly, a kind of sadistic pleasure settling over him like thin plastic over a dead person's face.

'Look at me.'

And Kyo did.

It was true, Adriana thought. Everyone did change when in front of the Jyunnishi Master. Despite how much courage someone had, how much will, or love, or bravery someone had, it all came down to the haunting memories Akito imbedded into them through the years.

'Why, Kyo?' Akito asked softly, his voice but a shadow of a whisper. He traced the boy's face with his finger, sensually. 'You know it will not be long before you are locked up. Remember, you are the outcast, the monster of my Jyunnishi, and I will do as I please with you. My Jyunnishi belong to me, and you belong away from the world.'

Akito looked at him for a moment, before shoving him to the ground, a disgusted look catching his contoured face. Kyo lay there, shaking with black anger and torrential fear. Emotions constricted his limbs of movement, as though we were bound by metal strings wielded around him. He had no power over Akito as he walked deliberately slow toward Adriana, eyes predatory and gleaming of an emotion all too familiar with the Sohma family.

'You,' he said evenly, stopping a few feet away. 'Why do you take my things from me?'

He stepped toward her slowly, on purpose, enjoying the fear he struck in Adriana's deep-set eyes.

'First; that Kana.' He cast a glance at Hatori, who looked to ground, for once feeling the pain of an old wound being grated with sharp knives.

'And then, that ugly girl. Tohru Honda.' He cast a look at Yuki, who shook violently, paralysed from the memories now surging in his head. Akito smirked, the slightest turn on his mouth making the room's temperature plummet. He turned back to Adriana, the shadows of the trees outside casting web-like silhouettes on his face.

'Then, _you_.'

He let those words hang in the air, like a paused storm, as though they were threats. Then, suddenly, he launched at her, all growls and curled fingers – but the second before his body touched even a hair on Adriana's, Kyo's form crashed into his, and both were knocked to the floor; one unconscious, the other fuming.

'_Never touch her!_' Kyo bellowed, angry beyond reason. His body was heaving with inhumanly short breaths and a fury he had never, ever felt before. His hands were clawed and his eyes flashed menacingly. Hatori rushed to Akito's aid, assessing the damage done almost instinctively. Shigure shouted for Kyo to take Adriana out of there before Akito came back to consciousness.

Kyo did not need telling twice.

He grabbed Adriana's hand, and both ran as fast they could. Yuki collapsed on the floor, the makings of a full blown asthma attack clear in his breathing pattern.

--

* * *

--

****

Kyo and Adriana ran.

Through the woods, past trees, over logs, and finally, to a lake far from the Sohma Estate. Both were gasping for breath, clutching their sides, and bending over in an attempt to gain a normal heart beat.

'Are you – all right?' Kyo gasped, looking to Adriana through eyes clouded over. She nodded back, albeit shakily, and swallowed hard. Without warning, Kyo reached for her with quivering hands and slammed her against his heaving chest, arms carefully rigid by his sides as he leant on the tree behind him.

'Kyo – what –'

'Shh,' Kyo whispered, voice like a soothing herbal infusion, burying his cooling face into her full hair, breathing her scent in. Adriana fell silent and reached up, cupping the side of Kyo's face in her shaking hand. He was still trembling, his emotions getting a strong hold over him, but she could feel his anger receding. Her Kyo was coming back to her right now, and she couldn't care less about what happened after this.

The wind picked up around them, chilly and biting. It was as though Mother Nature was furious with them, and she had decided to come out, her elements adorning her body. She blew at them with an algid breath and scratched at them with broken twigs. But neither felt the cold as the leaves were thrown about, flashes of bronze and gold blinking at them sleepily. Each other's warmth was all they needed. Kyo leant into Adriana's hand, and held her other with his own.

'Just stay like this. Stay with me. Forever.'

--

**END**

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**Ela Squawk: Ahee, there it is. And just before her birthday! ... Well, it was a few weeks ago, but I'm slow so I have an excuse. Happy Belated Birthday Adriana! -hands her Kyo wrapped in nothing but a bow- Thanks to everyone for their comments and such! I really appreciate each and every one of your comments, and I'm really glad you all liked it.**

****

**Ja ne!**

**Until next FruBa fic,**

**Ela.**


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